Bush says diplomacy is 1st choice in Iran standoff

MESEBERG, Germany – President Bush, in a fresh warning to Tehran, said Wednesday he favors a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff with Iran but has not ruled out the possible use of military force.\nBush spoke at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but his words were aimed at Iran. Bush warned Iran against dragging out the dispute to run the clock out on his presidency.\n“My first choice is to solve this diplomatically,” said Bush, who is rallying European allies to back tougher sanctions against Iran. But he also said: “All options are on the table,” a phrase he has repeatedly used in reference to a possible military strike against Iran, even as a last resort.\nIran, which says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes, had a message for Bush on Wednesday too.\nPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Bush’s presidency was over and the president has failed in his goals to attack Iran and stop its nuclear program. Addressing thousands of people in central Iran, Ahmadinejad described Bush as “wicked,” and said that Bush was targeting Iran after dispatching the U.S. military into Iraq and Afghanistan.\n“I tell him (Bush) ... your era has come to an end,” Ahmadinejad said. “With the grace of God, you won’t be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran.”\nMerkel, who appeared with Bush at the German government’s main guesthouse called Schloss Meseberg, said if Iran does not agree to suspend its enrichment program, additional sanctions would be needed.\n“If Iran does not meet its commitments, then further sanctions will simply have to follow,” she said.\nThe U.S. and its European allies are waiting to decide if stiffer sanctions should be levied against Iran until after the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, visits Tehran to present a package of incentives in exchange for stopping its enrichment program. The offer, an updated version of one that Iran ignored a few years ago, was developed by the United States, along with Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China.\nAhmadinejad said pressures and sanctions won’t succeed in forcing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program. “If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong,” he said.\nThe U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for bomb. Iran continues to defy them.\nMerkel said she favors having sanctions decided through the U.N. Security Council, but that doesn’t preclude any discussion within the European Union about whether there are other punitive measures, perhaps in the banking sector.\nAt Bush’s final U.S.-EU summit Tuesday in Kranj, Slovenia, the leaders issued a joint declaration that said the United States and Europe “are ready to supplement those (previous) sanctions with additional measures” if Iran does not halt enrichment. It also said they would “work together ... to take steps to ensure Iranian banks cannot abuse the international banking system to support proliferation and terrorism.”\nAddressing opponents of taking certain sanctions, Merkel said “Let us think of the people in Iran. This is what is essential. I think these people deserve a much more – sort of a better outlook ... and we would hope for the leadership in Iran to finally see reason.”